2024-12-10 15:24 update: 2024-12-10, 17:08
Photo PAP/Pawel Supernak
The last few years have seen the Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) transform into a mockery of the mission it was designed to fulfil, Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister has said.
Tusk made his comments before Tuesday's session of the government, which was to deal with a legislative proposal aimed at dissolving this specialised agency.
He mentioned that the last several years had demonstrated how his predecessors employed ruthless tactics in political conflicts, tactics that involved the participation of state agencies.
"There was no doubt among us that what happened to this agency in recent years has, in effect, mocked the purpose for which it was created," he said. "The general sentiment in Poland has increasingly been one of disillusionment, as it appeared that the institution designed to combat corruption was, in fact, shielding the government while targeting the opposition."
He added that the founding principle of the office when it was established was fundamentally different: "The CBA was created to ensure that there was adequate oversight of the actions performed by the government."
"It was tainted by our predecessors (the socially-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government - PAP)," said Tusk.
The prime minister said that "the proposed initiative will 'burn out' the evil that has permeated this institution" and added that the reforms introduced by the head of the Ministry of Interior and Administration would enhance the state's capacity to combat corruption more effectively.
"Above all, the services designed to combat corruption, economic crime, bribery will be focused on those who exercise authority, not on the opposition," the prime minister concluded.
At its Tuesday meeting, the cabinet approved a bill shutting down the CBA, the Prime Minister's Office reported later that day.
Some of CBA's tasks will be taken over by a new anti-corruption department within the police force, the Central Bureau for Fighting Corruption, as well as by the Internal Security Agency (ABW) and the National Tax Administration (KAS).
Of some 1,300 CBA jobs, most will be transferred to the police with some to be moved to ABW and KAS. The CBA budget will be divided according to similar proportions.
The parties making up the current coalition government have written the commitment to dissolve of CBA into their coalition agreement. (PAP)
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